it appears to skip over the loop altogether. I think this is because the
system seems to think that 'search_area' or 'search_terms,' which are part
of the cursor, are actual fields, when they are not. I want them to be
placeholders or variables which can change.

so, my sql would like this if the user searched the name field for 'mvp
baseball':

select *
from video_game
where Name LIKE '%MVP Baseball%'

And the user should be able to search the name or description field
depending on what they choose.